Nov 25 2014

Croissants et Traction-Avant à Luang Prabang

Ah, il était temps, je vous entends dire!!! Enfin un blog en français…. Et dire que nous sommes partis il y a exactement 5 mois aujourd’hui!!

Et oui, 5 mois, 18 pays et 18,500kms. Que d’aventures, de beaux pays, de contacts merveilleux, de nouveaux amis et de repas délicieux. Notre philosophie a toujours été de ne pas avoir de regrets dans la vie, autant que possible, et surtout de faire en sorte qu’on ne regrette pas de ne pas avoir essayé quelque chose qui nous tentait. Et nous sommes en effet ravis d’avoir passé ces derniers 5 mois sur la route comme nous l’avons fait. Aucun regret!

Oui bien sûr, il y a eu des moments difficiles, mais c’est surtout parce que nous n’avons pas asez d’experience sur certaines surfaces. Il y a eu en particulier 2 jours en Birmanie qui nous ont testés. Ces routes, nous les avons subites, et nous en sommes sortis pas trop mal, (j’en suis même assez fière je dois avouer) mais nous ne les cherchons pas. Et plus récemment, lors de notre séjour á Chiang Mai, où nous nous sommes posé tant de questions à propos de notre retour en Australie et notre futur – c’est normal. Que va-t’il se passer une fois notre voyage terminé? Nous avons beaucoup de projets, une fois de retour à Manly, pour la maison et le travail, nous ne manquerons pas d’activités. Mais est-ce que ce sera assez?! Que rechercherons nous, point de vue amis, activités, communauté? Nous avons hâte de revoir tout le monde en Australie, mais l’Amérique du Sud nous appelle!!! Et bien sûr notre retour en Europe encore plus :-). Quand nous voyageons, nous profitons au maximum de nos experiences, tout est neuf, interessant, fascinant même. Quand nous nous arrêtons, c’est une période de réflexion.

Comme pays, nous avons surtout adoré l’Ouzbekistan, l’Iran et plus récemment, la Birmanie. Je suis sûre que les conditions en Birmanie vont continuer à changer pour faciliter le tourisme, et nous aimerions y retourner un jour quand nous aurons le droit de voyager à notre rythme. Malgrès nos difficultés en Inde, nous avons sympatisé avec quelques personnes avec lesquelles nous sommes toujours en contact. Un jeune garçon en particulier de 16 ans qui m’appelle ‘tante’ et qui fait des choses formidables avec son père pour éduquer les pauvres. Deux familles que nous avons recontrées à Samarkande continuent de nous écrire. Et nous avons tant de nouveaux amis en Iran…

Voilà notre petit résumé rapide de nos 5 mois sur la route… Aucun regret d’avoir commencé ce voyage autour du monde en moto. Au contraire. Que d’aventures, que d’expériences et souvenirs, et de nouveaux amis. Et beaucoup, beaucoup plus que celà… Un voyage comme celà change tout, presque, ou au moins confirme ce qui est important et ce qui ne l’est pas, dans la vie, pour nous du moins…

Nous sommes arrivés à Luang Prabang il y a deux jours. Belle petite ville située au nord du laos, inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO depuis 1995, où l’inflence française se fait sentir partout. Un peu d’histoire grâce à wikipedia: http://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luang_Prabang. Nous avons trouvé un petit hotel formidable, 3 Nagas, qui a une belle Traction-Avant datant de 1950.

Anne dans une Traction-Avant de notre hotel 3 Nagas à Luang Prabang, Laos

Superbe Traction-Avant datant de 1950 à Luang Prabang, Laos

Les touristes que nous rencontrons sont toujours choqués ou au moins surpris quand nous leur disons que nous ne faisons aucune excursion – on pourrait aller en bateau voir des caves, des éléphants, des chuttes d’eau etc. Nous profitons plutôt de simplement marcher partout. Je me suis levée à 05.00 hier matin pour voir les centaines de moines recolter l’aumône des habitants. J’allais me lever ce matin tôt pour prendre plus de photos mais le sommeil était trop profond. Demain, avant notre départ pour Vang Vieng, peut-être…

Aumône des moines à Luang Prabang, Laos

Hier, nous nous sommes régalés: croissants délicieux, déjeuners et dinners incroyables. C’est pourquoi nous devons, ou plutôt de rions…, faire autant d’exercise que possible!! Savez-vous que nous avons grossi de 2 kgs lors de notre séjour en inde?! Nous avons tellement bien mangé là aussi et n’avons jamais été malade.

Croissant pur beurre à Luang Prabang, Laos – quel délice

Anthony traversant la rivière Nam Khan á Luang Prabang, Laos

Vue de notre restaurant à midi, Luang Prabang, Laos

Il y a une multitude de petites ruelles à Luang Prabang, Laos

Offrande de fleurs, Luang Prabang, Laos

Après une belle randonnée le long de la rivière, nous visitons le Mont Phu Si en plein centre de Luang Prabanga où on y trouve multiples temples et statues de Buddha. On pourrait s’y perdre avant de retrouver les 300 marches pour redescendre. Je m’arrête quelques temps pour bavarder avec un jeune moine. Nowisput a 16 ans et n’est donc que novice – ils ne peuvent devenir moine qu’à partir de 21 ans. Il a quitté sa famille à l’age de 7 ans car la vie dans la jungle était trop dure pour lui. Il n’est pas sûr de devenir moine car la vie est dure pour eux aussi il me dit…

Moine novice Nowisput au Mont Phu Si, à Luang Prabang, Laos

Mont Phu Si, Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang et Mékong, Laos vu du Mont Phu Si

Luang Prabang et Mékong, Laos vus du Mont Phu Si

C’était amusant d’entendre des français dire en nous voyant descendre: “il y a des gens que ne restent même pas pour le sunset!”. Le sunset?! Nouveau mot français. Et oui, nous ne sommes pas restés avec les douzaines de touristes pour voir le coucher de soleil sur le Mékong. Nous n’avons jamais aimé les foules (d’où nos difficultés en Inde…). Nous préferrons admirer un coucher de soleil en pleine nature, seuls, loin de tout le monde, comme nous avons réussi à le faire en Birmanie quand nous avons refusé de faire plus de route en pleine nuit en moto. (Mille fois trop dangereux, quand on ne voit pas les trous, les couches de sable recouvrant la route etc, surtout après les heures que nous avions déjà fait dans des conditions difficiles même pour les autres motards avec beaucoup plus d’expérience que nous).

Luang Prabang et Mékong vus du Mont Phu Si, Laos

Wat Hor Phrabang, Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang, Laos

Aujourd’hui, après la grasse matinée, petit déjeuner relax, dehors, mais bien couverts car il fait plutôt frais ici le matin (20 degrés), nous avons visité le musée national, situé dans l’ancien palais royal, et plusieurs wat et monastères. Luang Prabang, malgrés tous les touristes, est une petite ville très agréable où l’on oublie même que nous sommes des touristes. J’adore le fait que l’école est restée en pleine ville, parmis tous les restaurants touristiques – j’ai toujours adoré entendre les enfants jouer et rire dehors ou dans la cour.

Ecole maternelle de Luang Prabang, Laos

L’école maternelle de Luang Prabang en plein centre ville

Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang, Laos

Nous finissons notre belle journée avec un repas délicieux à notre hotel, et pour la 3ème fois, nous choisissons le poulet avec une sauce délicieuse: peau de buffle d’eau sechée ensuite marinee dans une sauce chili et citronelle. Hmmmm

Poulet avec sauce de peau buffle d’eau séchée et marinée dans une sauce chili et citronelle

Demain, nous quittons Luang Prabang pour Vang Vieng.

– Anne

Nov 24 2014

Butterflies and the rice harvest

Finally we are leaving Chiang Mai. As Anne alluded to in her last post, we have many thoughts and questions swirling in our minds, being back on the road after so much down time will be enjoyable and clear our heads. I think that some of my lethargy this last 10 days has been the anti climax of reaching Thailand. The first class roads, first world facilities and the lack of challenges that we have faced along the road so far have taken the edge off the journey. When you have an objective, you focus on achieving it, when it’s done, the question is what’s next. I remember when we travelled through Africa in 1982/83 and reached the Cape of Good Hope, south of Cape Town, there was satisfaction at the achievement, a let down that it was over but then, ok what’s next? It is about the journey not the destination and so we set new goals and objectives after a short reflection time and off we go again.

Our departure from Liam’s Guest House and our hosts Ron and Daphne was hard after the hospitality and helpfulness they had shown during our stay. As we had to keep extending our stay each day while waiting for Anne’s BMW part to arrive, I am not sure they thought we would ever leave! It was a great place to stay, a quiet oasis outside the city of Chiang Mai. We will miss this place and the people, but the road beckons.

Fabulous sweeping road towards Nan, Thailand

The roads in the north of Thailand, we have been told, are great for motorcycling by the various expats living here that we met. We have had so many suggestions of routes and contradictory views as to the roads condition, it has been difficult to chose. We have decided to head today to Nan about 300 km east by road from our current location. We retrace our route for about 100km then head east riding on good surfaces with gentle bends. A recipe for good motorcycle riding. The smell of food as we pass a roadside cafe has us turn around for lunch. We sit in comfortable chairs watching the occasional traffic go by as we have an excellent fish dish and a rather hot salad. Total cost about $2.50, €2.00 or £1.80. Thailand food prices are so reasonable I could not imagine anyone, expats that is, living here cooking their own meals apart from breakfast.

Had a delicious fish lunch at this tiny roadside restaurant on our way to Nan, Thailand

I have noticed the leaves of some trees are turning from green to yellow, and the current rice harvest seems to be almost completed. The air is cooler and the landscape has an autumn dryness about it with brown stalks and stubble predominating the farming areas. This land is well utilised with rice grown on flat land and corn / maize / mealies on quite hilly ground. Occasionally, we pass small groups working diligently in the fields harvesting rice. One thing we do notice is that most of them have arrived by car or moped which are parked neatly at the side of the road. A sign that prosperity is reaching into the countryside and is not just confined to the towns.

Butterflies abound, white, yellow and darker, multi coloured varieties. I watch then as I ride, hoping as they flit into my field of vision that they will not become casualties of my motorbike’s passage; thankfully most pass unharmed. I really enjoy their presence and it reminds me how few I see in Australia. In places, the road is lined with teak trees, tall and imposing with huge leaves which we have been warned are an early morning hazard on the road – covered in dew they are very slippery!

Teak tree lined road, Thailand

All Thai town entrances have huge banners with their King

We arrive in Nan and make our way to a nice hotel that Anne had identified previously near the river. We ask ‘do you have a room for tonight?’ They do not, but ring around hotels to find a room for us, then as they talk to the second hotel, we realise that they understood our question to be ‘do you have a room for two nights?’ We have our room and a reminder to think when we phrase questions as they may be misinterpreted. A stroll along the river for a great whole fish dinner completes our first riding day in almost 2 weeks. It’s good to be back on the road.

At a fuel stop early next morning, I see a Chelsea, the soccer club I support, shirt. He speaks no English but is knowledgeable about not only Chelsea, but Southampton’s position of second place in the English Premier League despite having sold many leading players at the end of last season. There is no language barrier in football and it interesting to see that the Chelsea website has Thai as one of the half dozen Asian languages they support. Asian supporters of English football are big business.

The border is only 100km from Nan and a good road, we climb higher and start to run along the ridges of the mountains. It’s glorious, superb vistas unfold before our eyes as the road swings right and left up and down, no traffic and a great road as this was upgraded to support construction of a lignite power station over the border in Laos. There is little traffic and few turn offs which makes me wonder how locals travel in this region and how populated it is.

Approaching the Thai-Laos border crossing at Thungchang

Our border crossing process is the simplest and quickest so far and as usual, is documented in our visas section. The good road continues up to the power station at Hongsa, which is still under construction but looks to be well on the way to completion in 2015. This is 80% Thai owned and will export 1500 MW of its 1878 MW capacity to Thailand. Local currency, always a problem when you first cross any border and is resolved with an ATM, but with a 8% withdrawal fee! We are still not sure if the exchange rate is 3,000 or 30,000 to the US dollar, turns out to be about 7,000 – so much for guesstimating.

Our first example of French influence in Laos

The road now splits and we have a choice of 4a or 4b: 4b is more direct, but we have heard bad reports from expats and locals so 4a it is. The road is narrow and has many short sections of compressed dirt or gravel, mostly on sharp or hair pin bends but apart from the occasional scare on gravel going down hill, we are ok. The roads are steep in places with quite a few 15% slopes to negotiate! We enjoy the ride and the views but are glad to arrive at our destination of Sayaboury, Sayabouly or Xaignabouli depending on which map or road sign you look at, before dusk. The people here do not seem to be able to pronounce ‘R’ hence the different spellings. We find a clean and very cheap guesthouse and, with no tv or internet, get an early night.

4b road to Sayaboury, Laos

High plateau heading to Sayaboury, Laos

Heading to Sayaboury, Laos

We only have 100km to travel today to Luang Prabang, which is a tourist destination on the banks of the Mekong river. We are looking forward to crossing the Mekong river by ferry, but when we arrive, a new concrete bridge spams the river. We stop for breakfast and have to decide between small roasted animals that look like frogs or fish. A close call but the fish wins, and rewards us with dozens of bones. As we sit, an old Russian cab-less truck converted for logging trundles by. I had seen it earlier and wondered how it worked and where it was going. Should we follow it and see? This journey is a bit like Alice in Wonderland, having followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole, us leaving the UK, and being each day in the long hall with many doors, none are locked and we can enter anyone without potion or cake. The outcome of each daily decision, such as to follow the Russian truck or not will have consequences in experience, time etc. if we had opened every door we saw we would probably be still in Europe after five months, not practical when our insurance finishes on the 26 December. There is no specific way to undertake a trip like this and for all we may have potentially missed, it is more than compensated by the experiences we have had across 18 countries to date.

Breakfast stop by the Meekong, Laos

Preparing our green papaya salad for breakfast, Laos

Enjoying our roadside breakfast by the Meekong, Laos

Ingenious Laos goods carrier

The mighty Meekong, Laos

This Laos ice cream van also plays music as it drives along, like ‘back home’

Not far from Luang Prabang, Laos

Anne has identified an old French hotel in Luang Prabang.. We ride up and are greeted with cool drinks and towels in a huge lobby. They promise to get give us a good price and come back with a 10% discount on the standard room rate of 560. I ask what currency and am told US dollars, but does include breakfast, eek! We quickly refold the cool towels and beat a hasty retreat. Not quite, they are helpful with hotels more in our budget range including backpackers when he knows how much we are willing to spend! As this is a small town, very popular with tourists and high season, accommodation prices are not comparable with Thailand. We reach town and start to see so many tourists, but that said it has a good feel and unlike many places, you are not pestered with hawkers and touts. We end up at the 3Nagas Hotel which has a great feel and central location. Food here is excellent and the availability of good coffee and French croissants add to the pleasure.

Our hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos

We will stay three nights and explore the town and surrounds and enjoy the excellent less spicy (hot) food.

– Anthony

Nov 20 2014

10 days in Chiang Mai

We leave Mae Sot on the 11th November having spent a day lazing at our cheap but very comfortable $20 a night motel. Over the last 36 hours, we have gradually said goodbye to the whole group as each one or two go their separate ways. We get our clothes washed, clean the very muddy bikes and do some basic maintenance. Streak is not well so we decide to take the easy road to Chiang Mai. We had originally intended doing the journey in 2 days but the road is so good, we are only 150kms out Chiang Mai at one point when we keep going so that we can take Streak to BMW as soon as possible. I check online whether the guesthouse I had selected for the next few nights is available tonight and quickly book an extra night.

We get to our guesthouse, Liam’s Suan Dok Mai and feel like we have arrived a friends’ home. It is a little oasis of lush gardens, friendly open air restaurant and the hosts are very welcoming. The room we get is beautiful. It will be nice to relax and recharge here for a few days.

Liam’s Suan Dok Mai guesthouse, Chiang Mai

Outdoor restaurant at Liam’s Suan Dok Mai guesthouse, Chiang Mai

So we have been here since the 11th November. We quickly and easily settle into a relaxed mode. Everything here is so easy and civilized. Everything works!! No power cuts. No cold showers. No noisy generators. No smelly bathrooms. No noisy hooting cars. No potholes in the streets. The internet and our 3G sim card work. The guesthouse owners speak excellent English (they are Dutch and Belgian). They understand our needs and how they can help us get what we need. In fact they are incredible helpful. One morning he gives us about 10 sheets of paper he has printed off for us with motorcycle diagrams and part numbers. The guesthouse also has a pool and a restaurant. Not far by tuk-tuk (3 wheeled motorcycle taxi) is a huge shopping centre where we went and got our first 4D experience movie! The seats move in all directions, there a puffs of air coming from your seat and can even get splashed. Lucky I noticed the ‘water on’ sign on our arm rests before the shorts started!! We sort our bags and ship a box of paperwork home. We feel like taking a leisurely pace and making the most of this comfortable guesthouse on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.

BMW were slow at identifying the problem. When we returned 2 days later and I rode Streak again, I felt no difference. What have they done and why can’t feel it is still not right I wonder?! Because, although the mechanic knew we had travelled from the UK, I explained the problem, how Streak died on me on a hairpin bends or ‘coughs’ when I open the throttle when overtaking or changing gear, he couldn’t feel the problem because, in his own words ‘I thought you are a lady so I ride it slowly and open the throttle slowly’. Seriously?!…. Only when I ask him to ride it again himself and open the throttle does he understand. Problem identified by swapping some parts and now the replacement part is on its way to Chiang Mai.

In the meantime, Anthony goes with Micheal, whom we met in Myanmar, to meet his fix-anything mechanic to see what he can do with my smashed brake fluid reservoir, while I go to the dentist.

As of 17th November, the part has not arrived yet, Streak is getting a makeover with a new reservoir casing being made and some highway pegs fitted, we haven’t organised vehicle insurance yet, we haven’t found out about the roads in Laos so haven’t got our route planned at all, will we even have time for Laos now? Anthony is having his second visit to get a new inlay after he cracked his tooth in Iran, so we are here for another couple of days. Time then for a massage, catch up with Ian from our Myanmar group and another dinner with Micheal and his wife Atsuko. We also have to work on our next bike shipment before we get to Kuala Lumpur. We are now wondering whether we shouldn’t find a friendly place to park the bikes for a month and fly back to KL on our way to South America and organise the shipment then.

Atsuko and Micheal, Chiang Mai

As we had to enter Thailand on the same passport as we left Myanmar on, that is our Australian one, we only got a 15 day visa. We will have to dash to Laos when we leave Chiang Mai – which route shall we take though??

20th November

Streak is all fixed up!!!!! Nung has done such a brilliant job – I am very happy. He built a metal plate to fit my broken number plate on. It is a work of art – the way he filed and smoothed the steel plate around the original fancy curved UK shape. He created a double layer casing for my brake fluid reservoir – one in resin and an extra fiber glass one. And he built then powder coated brackets for some highway pegs I wanted so that I can stretch my arthritic knees occasionally. All that for $100. And the BMW part arrived and fitted – warranty job.

Anne’s loan bike while Nung works on her bike

Nung loves selfies!

Nung, mechanic extraordinaire, powder-coating Anne’s new highway pegs

Anne’s new highway pegs

Anne’s rebuilt brake fluid reservoir thanks to Nung’s brilliance

So we are good to go but we have decided to give ourselves a day to repack and prepare ourselves for our Laos leg. Time for final hand washing, a hair trim, drink with David and other Aussie bike riders and one final dinner and wonderful evening with Micheal, his wife Atsuko and daughter Kara. I wish we had more time …

Reflections on Chiang Mai

We have simply lived for the past 10 days here and have not done one single touristy activity, much to the surprise of other guests we get to meet over our stay.

What has struck us is how easy and cheap everything is here. As I mentioned earlier, everything works. The roads are in great condition. There are large supermarkets and shopping centres and still many small markets all over and tiny stalls selling all sorts of goods and food stalls. It feels like a wonderful mixture of ‘western’ 1st world and 3rd world. We still sense the tolerant nature of people which had struck us 28 years ago.

The drivers and motorcycle riders mostly follow road rules. Driving is easy. There is very very little hooting and there is, in the city at least, good anticipation and tolerance of what drivers are about to do. They never look or stop before pullingnout, but everyone expects and anticipates that, so it all works and flows nicely. Sadly, there are the odd impatient and crazy drivers and a lot of drink driving making Thailand one of the most dangerous country in the world for drivers.

As a country, they seem to have adopted many of the clever and useful road markings we’ve seen elsewhere in the world: road lines are different colours on the edge and when separating lanes like in the US – that way you know whether you are on a single way or 2 way road. There are boxes painted at intersections like in the UK so that cars does not block traffic – and drivers respect this rule unlike in Brisbane. There are separate lanes at large intersections for U turns like in the US so you don’t end up waiting at 2 sets of lights. Turn off and turn on lanes on dual carriage ways are separate so you don’t end up with a dangerous short section of road where everyone is cutting in front of others before the extra on/off lane disappears. And the have lovely trimmed bushes and colourful bougainvillias dividing dual carriage ways, like back home in Oz.

You can get good and cheap quality everything here – not just cheap poor quality imports. Spare parts, tools, medication and labour are incredibly cheap. The dentist was a quarter of the price we’d pay in Australia, spare parts 1/10th of the cost. Labour is still incredibly cheap. And good, fresh and healthy food even cheaper, everywhere.

The biggest change we’ve noticed is the number of cars! We used to see few cars, many bicycles and scooters. Now we see mostly cars, many scooters and motorcycles and very few bicycles. Tuk-tuks are still everywhere providing excellent taxi service. So the pace has changed. This makes walking in many places difficult as the streets do not cater for pedestrians.

We meet many people from Australia, America, France even who spend 6 months of the year here and many who came here for 12 months 3, 4, or more years ago! We definitely understand the appeal of living here… We have connected with a few people here, organised a few dinners and drinks out, don’t have enough time left now to accept some invitations and suddenly we feel like we have a circle of friends here.

As we have simply lived while in Chiang Mai, our thoughts of going home come up often, initially for the one month before heading to South America, but then when we eventually get home after our world tour. Maybe this is one of the reasons we have felt quite drained and lethargic here. So many thoughts… So many questions… What will it be like for us going home, how will we find it, how will we fill our days, will we be content again at home, what about our friends, will there be the same connection between us, will we find we have become irrelevant to their lives, will we still enjoy living in Manly or will we seek a smaller community where people connect more, will we try and organise house swaps while we continue our trip, will we manage to cull all our surplus ‘stuff’ once home as we have promised ourselves, how will we eventually settle into retirement – and what odd jobs will we be doing to replenish our coffers and enable us to keep returning to visit family in Europe. Will we reconnect with our bikes in Santiago and ride up the west coast of South America or Sao Paulo and find ourselves a boat to ride the Amazon? So many questions… But what we do know is that we are looking forward to being home for a while and catching up with friends.

People here keep asking what our route is from here. We have no idea. We really have none. And I love that. I do know that I do not fancy challenging dirt roads for a while though!! So we will opt for small but tarred roads, taking us through quiet villages so that we can enjoy Thai, then Laos village life. First we will head towards a place called Nan!!

Suite au prochain numéro…

– Anne

Nov 9 2014

Myanmar – other perspectives

Travelling through Myanmar with a group, there are different perspectives on what is seen and understood. I thought that you may be interested in seeing other group members’ blogs and how each interpreted and portrayed their journeys, especially across Myanmar. There are a couple of great videos to watch. Enjoy.

Dan. http://www.danskeates.com

Garth. http://www.garthsafrica.blogspot.com

Kristján. http://www.slidingthrough.com

Max. http://www.awesomemiles.com

Rolf & Jochen. http://www.thisworldahead.com

– Anthony

Nov 8 2014

My 60th birthday

Today is my birthday, wow 60 years old, how did I get here, where did the time go? The answer is having an amazing journey with Anne over the last 40 years. My day starts with a kiss and bag of goodies from Anne, great. I have a card and pages and pages of messages from family and friends. Sixty in all, somebody up there keeps count, a big thank you to all of you who sent me a message via Anne.

This is a calendar milestone for me as I have conveniently divided my life into three sections, up to 30, 30 to 60, and the next third third which is about to commence. I did try quarters but 120 is probably pushing it a bit. So while I feel no different from the day before, both Anne and I have contemplated the future as our full time careers have likely drawn to a close and we will need to decide at the end of this trip, what path or paths out future may hold. We are very lucky to be able to take such a trip. Anyway enough of the philosophy for now and back to the road for our ride to Golden Rock.

We depart early to collect a couple of the riders’ motorcycles from the police station, again a somewhat disorganised event – we will be glad to leave our guide behind after tomorrow. Then we are off, only 140km to cover today, to the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (also known as Golden Rock).

On our way to Kyaikto, Myanmar

We arrive at our accommodation at lunchtime and we decide a shower is in order after the ride. With all the protective gear that we wear, hot and humid weather requires a change of clothes after the ride. While Anne is in the shower, a knock on the door. The hotel staff have been given a cake by Anne to put some icing and candles on, but unfortunately the length of time this has been in Anne’s panniers, it has grown its own icing coating! In the bin, such a pity for a great surprise. Anne always has a second plan, so strips of melted Kit-Kat with six candles greet me at dinner, and yes I was able to blow them all out in one blow.

The rest of the group has clubbed together to get me a birthday present and have had a zippo lighter engraved with ‘strength and courage’ in Burmese. A very nice and thoughtful gift that I will cherish as a reminder of the group we have travelled with. A great birthday lunch.

Our fantastic accommodation at Kyaikto, Myanmar

Anthony’s 60th birthday ‘cake’ in Kyaikto, Myanmar

Anthony’s 60th birthday present from our Myanmar group

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar situated in Mon State to the east of Yangon. This pagoda was constructed on the top of a granite boulder, which Buddhists have, and continue to, paste on gold leaves. According to legend, and Wikipedia who provided this information, the Golden Rock itself is precariously perched on a strand of the Buddha’s hair. The balancing rock seems to defy gravity, as it perpetually appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill. The rock and the pagoda are at the top of Mt. Kyaiktiyo.

Travel to the top is by truck only, no personnel vehicles allowed, although a few of our group would love to have a go at the road on their motorbikes. We are not among them. The level of development at the peak surprises me, however while some is related to foreign tourists, the majority of shops, stalls and guest houses are for the Buddhist pilgrims who come to pray and make offerings. Whole families, groups of friends and individuals have all made the journey and spend time at this scenic high point of over 1,100 meters, considering that we probably started only a couple of hundred meters above sea level the climb was impressive . Clouds swirl around and below us and after a few photographs the cloud envelops the Golden Rock changing the feel of this site.

About to head up the mountain to see Golden Rock – what don’t we know?!

On Anthony’s 60th birthday at Golden Rock, Myanmar

On our return, Floris bypassed the primary fuel filter to see if that was the problem on Anne’s motorbike but to no avail. The problem appears to be either the fuel pump or the flow controller. We will see if we can limp to Chiang Mai and get the BMW Motorrad dealer to solve what what appears to be a warranty issue.

Floris helping us with Anne’s fuel pump

Bike maintenance finished, time for a birthday boy beer at Kyaikto, Myanmar

My 60th birthday has been a memorable day in many respects.

Our journey will end on the Thai border at Mae Sot on the other side of the river from Myawaddy. Traffic is only allowed in one direction on alternate days on the last section, due to the terrain and narrowness of the road. We are also expecting rain which would make the road more interesting. Anne is looking at the last day with trepidation, a view of Google Maps has shown that the last section over the mountains will be a series of switchbacks and the road is in poor condition. Anne has had an issue with hairpins to the right of late, remembers the photos a German couple we met showed us of the road and a recent intermittent power loss when changing gears has heightened her concern.

Hpa-An valley, Myanmar

Heading east towards Kawkareik, Myanmar

50kms west of Kawkareik, Myanmar

Last stop before Kawkareik, Myanmar

50kms out of Kawkareik, Myanmar

Our last meal in Myanmar at Kawkareik

The road is as challenging as we expected, with poor surfaces, wet rocks and very slow trucks with few possibilities to overtake. When a large truck blocks a hairpin bend doing multiple manoeuvres to get itself around and forcing traffic to the inside of the steep rocky slippery bend, it pushes Anne almost to breaking point, with the appealing thought of putting the bike on that truck foremost in her mind as she struggled on that bend. But NO!, the unbreakable bamboo in Anne springs back and she soldiers on, slowly at first, but later cutting inside a truck on a bend and passing… Great riding. Dave is bringing up the rear and has said to Anne, “no pressure, take your time” – words of reassurance that help. There has been great support from the Dave on the rougher sections.

Between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, Myanmar

The road between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, Myanmar

Tar again! We’ve made it to the bottom of the mountain road to Myawaddy!

That’s a serious radiator feed! Myanmar

We descend behind trucks, slowly and then we are down! Smooth sweeping roads greet us, what a change and confirms that this is my favourite surface. So much for being an adventure rider! With our guide vehicle ahead we sweep to the border, quickly complete the Myanmar exit formalities, say goodbye to our guide, we wish him well for the future, but it would be hypocritical to thank him as he did not function as a guide, leaving us frustrated from time to time. He needs to be provided significant training or find another career.

Goodbye beautiful people of Myanmar, the border is 5′ away from here

Ha ha, you me the world look normal until I see photos and people look tiny! (Said Dave on seeing this photo of him taken with Myanmar border officials)

Our last day in Myanmar and time for reflection on the country and the journey. We have enjoyed the people and country immensely, even at the pace we had to travel through the country. We would like to have spent time in remote places, but the schedule did not allow for that. We had checked with the tour organiser in Yangon to see if we could stay longer, but because of the paperwork lodged with the government this was not possible. We have this on the list of places we would want to visit again.

Thailand border crossing details will be documented in Visas and Crossings, needless to say it takes a couple of hours to complete all the appropriate paperwork and we are on our way to a quiet guest house following GPS coordinates that turn out to be incorrect. GPS is a fantastic tool, but only as good as the information placed in it. Still, arrived an hour or so later to a cold beer and good night’s sleep. We are in Thailand.

Our hotel $20 room in Mae Sot on the Thai border

– Anthony

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